Free Republic

You know who wants Jeb Bush to run for president? The pundits. It's not that they pine for another Bush in the White House; it's that they need a GOP front-runner, preferably a household name. The Republican race is too amorphous for their taste. Every story has to mention Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio and on and on. What journalists love is a two-person showdown, especially if each candidate hails from a different wing of the party, paving the way for lots of civil war themes. Christie was their guy. A brash, blunt blue-stater with...

A new report from Politico’s Ken Vogel details how ten major GOP consultant firms who made a combined $1 billion off Mitt Romney’s failed 2012 White House bid are still large and in charge of GOP politics, raking in millions more for the 2014 cycle. According to Vogel’s analysis, the firms and the consultants who work for them have already made—through January 2014, nearly a full year before the midterm elections—more than $19.6 million. “They’ve also cemented relationships with some of the GOP’s rising stars, setting up the firms for even bigger paydays headed into the fall, when costly advertising...

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Grover Norquist, the influential conservative who serves as president of Americans for Tax Reform, thinks there are only six Republicans who can win the 2016 Republican nomination for president. His list, which he told Business Insider in an approximately hour-long interview Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. "There are only six people who can credibly run start-to-finish, and any of them could conceivably win the presidency," Norquist said....

Dewhurst is fighting for his political legacy after presiding over the Texas Senate for 11 years. In that role, he has chosen committee leaders, controlled the legislative agenda and maintained the Texas Senate's clubby atmosphere that keeps the wheels of government turning. But after his loss to Ted Cruz in the 2012 GOP primary race for the U.S. Senate, Dewhurst has tacked hard to the right. He has talked more about banning almost all abortions and even appointed Patrick to chair one of the Senate's most power committees, public education. Patrick, meanwhile, focused on passing abortion restrictions and expanding the...

If 2016 brings another Bush-Clinton matchup, not all famous last names are equal at the start. The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll makes clear why it’s better to be associated with the 42nd president than the 43rd and 41st, at least for now. The poll has plenty of good news for Hillary Rodham Clinton. Two-thirds of Americans say they’d consider voting for Clinton in 2016, and a full 25 percent say they will definitely support her. Again, among all Americans – not just Democrats, or Democrats and independents – one in four say they are fully on board for Hillary...

Sen. John Cornyn (R.-Tx.) loves to heap praise for his buddy, Karl Rove, a GOP Establishment political operative, who is calling for Republicans to play nice with Hillary Clinton. Cornyn has described Rove as "my friend for a long time." The Texas Tribune reports that, "Once the Texas GOP's go-to campaign strategist, Karl Rove has become something of a boogeyman for campaigns on both sides of the ballot in the 2014 election cycle." Rove explained that Sen. Cornyn is a true friend of the liberal elite in Washington D.C. Rove is quoted as saying that, “His colleagues like him a...

The man known as ‘Bush’s Brain’ and who Bob Woodward says will just ‘never go away’ is championing the perpetuation of a failed Republican strategy. During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Karl Rove actually asserted that if Hillary Clinton runs in 2016, Republicans should not attack her. ... Fighting the corruption of the Clintons and the Obama administration is what conservatives are for. Rove is clueless about this while simultaneously running interference for Hillary.

If the Republican Party is looking to make inroads with Hispanic voters -- it need only to look at Texas. A recent Gallup poll found that in the Lone Star state the Democratic Party’s traditional advantage with Hispanic voters is much narrower than the national average. Nationwide, 30 percent more Hispanics identify as a Democrat than a Republican, compared to just 19 percent in Texas. Part of the reason is that Latino culture has been ingrained in Texas since its founding. Many families can trace their family tree back to when Texas was part of Mexico. But Republican strategist Karl...

Let it be known! Just as Karl Rove did in 2010 and 2012, this festering wart is working behind the scenes to destroy any hopes of grassroots victory in 2014, even if it means destroying any hopes of GOP victory in 2014. It's a small price to pay for money-grubbing uber-RINO, Karl Marx Rove. There are three races in which the grassroots is energized to win the Republican primary with a fresh face. Kentucky, North Carolina, and Mississippi And aside from that, there are seven other states in which the campaigns have not been managed as well, have been divided,...

"JOHN CORNYN RALLY," read the LED billboard outside the Maude Cobb convention center. "NEAL MCCOY CONCERT." After 3 p.m., around a thousand local Republican activists started lining up for all of it. For $25, they could watch a local hero country singer perform a full show, collect all the GOP swag they wanted (in Cornyn tote bags), crack open free peanuts and sodas -- oh, yes, and to meet Texas's senior senator. If they parted with four figures, they could talk to Cornyn and Karl Rove at a private reception before the show. -snip- At the Longview rally, Karl Rove...

The senior senator from Texas predicted little movement in Congress for the rest of the year on immigration reform, or much of anything, during a campaign stop in Longview Sunday. “I think this is going to be about mitigating the policies of the president,” Republican Sen. John Cornyn said, noting the GOP needs a net six-seat gain to win control of the Senate. “We’ll be in strategic position to mitigate some of the harm of some of those policies.” Cornyn brushed off a recent, milder push-back on Obamacare to “mend it, don’t end it.” “You can’t actually update the policies...

Peanuts were cracking and boots were stomping Sunday at a Longview rally for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. More than 1,000 people attended the event at Maude Cobb Convention Center — which featured a performance by Longview resident and country music singer Neal McCoy. Karl Rove, former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff for President George W. Bush, delivered a short speech to introduce Cornyn. With a large American flag as a backdrop, McCoy led the crowd in a rendition of “the Star-Spangled Banner.” Rick Hulburt, a Hallsville resident, said he and his wife, Mary, decided to attend the event...

Former Bush administration adviser Karl Rove on Sunday cautioned Republicans against a 2016 presidential election strategy that focuses too much on the political history of potential Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Former Bush administration adviser Karl Rove on Sunday cautioned Republicans against a 2016 presidential election strategy that focuses too much on the political history of potential Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Rove told “Fox News Sunday” he was uncertain whether revisiting Clinton and husband Bill Clinton’s years in the White House would help Republicans win the presidency. “It may,” said Rove, now a “Fox News” contributor. “But the trouble for Republicans is it’s easier to say what you’re against than what you are for.” Republicans have tried to knock down a Clinton candidacy essentially since she resigned from her post in...

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is returning to Longview for a fundraiser that aims low at the wallet but high on attendance. “What we’re trying to do with this event is something I don’t think, typically, has been done before,” said John Coppedge, a Longview doctor. “We wanted to have an event that was fun and afforded the opportunity for a lot more people to participate in the process.” Political fundraisers, particularly for national office candidates, tend to be those $1,000-a-plate soirées that most people just hear about. Coppedge said the one planned for Feb. 16 is designed to draw as...

Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said Tuesday that while failures at the federal level to address immigration issues have left people frustrated, state lawmakers should not be attempting to fix the problem. Cornyn, joined by former White House strategist Karl Rove at the East Texas Immigration Summit, said states passing tougher immigration laws focused only on enforcement and not economic impacts. "Immigration is the federal government's responsibility, under our Constitution," Cornyn said. "Piecemeal approaches at the state level deal with only one aspect of the issue." Cornyn and Rove, the former deputy chief of staff to President Bush, was also...

Location: Maude Cobb Convention and Activity Complex Date: Sunday, February 16, 2014 (All day) Start & End Time: 4:00pm-6:00pm All Day Event: No Texans for Senator John Cornyn, Inc. will host "Rally for Cornyn" a political fundraiser for the re-election campaign of Senator John Cornyn at Maude Cobb Convention Center on Sunday, February 16, 2014. There will be a private reception for Senator John Cornyn at 3:30 p.m., followed by a public rally and concert, featuring Neal McCoy and Band, with a special appearance from Karl Rove, from 4:00pm - 6:00pm. Tickets are $25.00 each. To purchase tickets and for...

One incumbent U.S. senator has decided to campaign a little differently before the Republican Party primary this year. He’s still shaking hands, making speeches and raising funds, of course, but he’ll also be grooving to the beat of hometown country crooner Neal McCoy at a rally and concert from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Maude Cobb Convention Center. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, “wanted a fun, affordable opportunity for a lot more people to participate in the election process,” said Longview physician John R. Coppedge, treasurer of the Texas Bipartisan Justice Committee, one group supporting Cornyn’s re-election campaign. Cornyn,...

He said this during a segment on Fox News in which he also insisted that Chris Christie’s presidential hopes are still very much alive. Because of course he did.I did not realize that a few jabs at the Clenis aimed at parrying the left’s endless “war on women” attacks 32 months out from the next election might matter in deciding the presidency. Now I know better. Way to go, Rand. Karl Rove took a shot at Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday for attacking Bill Clinton over his “predatory” behavior toward Monica Lewinsky, saying that it’s not good strategy for...

Karl Rove took a shot at Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday for attacking Bill Clinton over his “predatory” behavior toward Monica Lewinsky, saying that it’s not good strategy for running for president. “Frankly, Rand Paul spending a lot of time talking about the mistakes of Bill Clinton does not look like a big agenda for the future of the country,” Rove said on Fox’s “America’s Newsroom.” Rove said that candidates for the presidency need to do two things in 2014: make their campaigns about something larger their personal ambitions and strengthen their skills. “I’m not certain, again, that beating...